Sri Lankans have elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the country's new president, giving the Marxist-leaning politician a key role in deciding the future of reforms in the debt-ridden nation that is slowly emerging from a crushing financial crisis.

Sri Lanka’s new leftist president was sworn into office Monday after ousting the country’s elites who voters had blamed for bankrupting the nation and imposing harsh austerity measures linked to an International Monetary Fund bailout.

"Anura Dissanayake, leader of the JVP and the National Peoples' Power (NPP), was elected as the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka in these elections. The victory of a Left candidate in the presidential election, for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, is a historic occasion," the CPI (M) said.